Hit The Deck was the first of many festivals that Nottingham has the pleasure of hosting this year, and it truly kicked our Summer Of Love off to a great start!
The first half of the day was practically dedicated to Nottingham artists. Straight after collecting our wristbands outside of Rock City, we noticed an absolutely massive queue. It was for ADELPHIA who were opening the main stage. A huge moment for any band, but one that isn’t made any easier when your vocalist suddenly comes down with a sore throat and sounds like Batman backstage.But, the boys pulled it off, and when they came out on stage they absolutely smashed it! With about a thousand people there to see them, the band had the crowd in the palm of their hands; mosh pits were started, girls were screaming their names, and overall, we were very impressed with the bands performance!
As soon as ADELPHIA had finished, we legged it to The Forum to see LACEY. Praised by the likes of Kerrang and Front Magazine, these boys make very upbeat, catchy Alternative Rock tunes, and put on a great live performance. The band seemed very humbled to have such a great reaction from the crowd; there’s just something about the community feel of Hit The Deck in that everyone was going absolutely crazy for them, even those who were not familiar with them before! With some soaring choruses that didn’t leave our heads for a good few hours, we left The Forum very impressed!
As we settled into the Rescue Rooms bar (where we planned to stay for a good few hours), we were instantly met by a rather chirpy fellow who goes by the name of ALEX HEL. Accompanied only by his acoustic guitar, Alex sang some incredibly catchy Acoustic tunes, with so much energy we reckon he’d had one too many Red Bull’s! With a nice silky, yet edgy tone to his voice he won over the bar; and even advised us to Google his name, just so we could see a period where he looked like one of Megadeth, clever!
Next up in Rescue Rooms bar was ADAM ZAREBA, a rather young lad with a beautiful voice and a knack for making catchy, bouncy Acoustic tunes that make you want to jump all over the place. His new EP was released today, so his set mostly comprised of this EP, and a few covers (that we won’t talk about here, as we love original songwriting!) that got the crowd singing along within seconds. Despite speaking to Adam beforehand where he explained he was incredibly nervous, you would not be able to tell, cause the second he got on stage he was incredibly confident, having plenty of banter with the crowd, and clearly enjoying sharing his music with the room!
SAM JONES was up next, known for his incredibly powerful vocals, this performance was no different. Sam’s vocals filled the room and his strong stage presence meant that no one could look away! “Oh My My” was a particular standout, and I personally still have the chorus going round and round my head. To finish off the set Sam played us a brand new song, “Coming Home”, and it really was something special. With deep sentiments wrapped up in some very catchy melodies, we reckon Sam has a new crowd favourite in his repertoire!
The last Nottingham act we had the pleasure of seeing (bloody time clashes) was the absolutely mental legends that were BABY GODZILLA. I’m not gonna lie, I stayed well at the back, because I wanted to come out of this gig with working limbs, but it was still an experience I’ll never forget. BABY GODZILLA are one of the hardest bands to review, because they’re just so crazy, your brain just kind of freezes up whilst you’re watching them. They had the entirety of Stealth screaming (and I mean screaming) the songs back at them, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a mosh pit that I’ve been more terrified of. I’m not a wimp. Like I said, I just wanted to come out of the gig alive.
Well, there’s my summary of the incredible Nottingham talent that I had the pleasure of seeing at this years Hit The Deck Festival. Plenty of people had come from outside of Nottingham to experience HTD, and I’m very happy to say, I’m sure that plenty of those out of towners, will have a fair few Nottingham artists on their iPod now. Nice one Nottingham, nice one!
Yours in Love of New Music,
Sam Nahirny x
